The 2014-15 season marked the fifth for Titan alum Pjotrs Necajevs ‘10 as the head coach of the University of Detroit Mercy women’s tennis program as he led the squad to the Horizon League championship. He became the eighth head coach in team history on Jan. 11, 2012, after previously serving in an interim role for almost a year.
Necajevs has guided Detroit to five-straight appearances in the Horizon League Championship semifinals, with a runner-up this past year. He has also brought the program back to a winning standard and new heights in the last three seasons with 39 overall wins – the most ever in any three-year period in Titan history. UDM went three-straight seasons under .500 prior to the 2012-13, but under his guidance, Detroit tallied 12 wins in 2013, 11 in 2014 and just set a school record with 16 dual wins and seven Horizon League victories in his latest campaign of 2014-15.
As well as setting that record for wins, Detroit made its’ third-ever trip to the Horizon League Championship after a thrilling 4-3 win over Cleveland State in the semifinals. UDM had a bye to begin the event thanks to finishing in second place in the regular season – just one win out of first – and then battled top-seeded Youngstown State, dropping a tough 4-2 affair.
Detroit also had three All-Horizon League selections in 2014-15 in freshman Sasha Nionova, junior Valeryia Kulikovskaya and sophomore Anna Davydova. It is only the third time that the Titans have received multiple All-League players with the three selections representing the most in school history. Nionova was also the HL Freshmen of the Year, and Davydova, an All-Conference Second Team selection, led the team with a 26-7 mark in singles, tying the school record held by assistant coach Annie Moore (26 in 2006) and Zeljka Minic (26 in 2008).
Necajevs has now had five players earn All-Horizon League honors in his five seasons as well as recording a 52-41 overall record and a 24-13 ledger in the Horizon League.
Necajevs took over as the interim head coach during the 2010-11 season. His first match saw Detroit post a 7-0 victory over Valparaiso on March 26, 2011. Necajevs went on to lead the Titans to a 6-5 dual match record the rest of the year, including a third-place finish in the Horizon League Championship with a 4-1 win over Wright State in the quarterfinals and a 4-2 triumph over Butler in the third-place match.
In his first full season in 2012-13, he brought in a number of freshmen, including Nino Sujashvili who was named to the All-Conference Second Team, and helped the squad to a 12-6 record, 5-2 in the league. It was a historic season as Detroit secured a 4-3 win over UIC on April 6, 2013 in Chicago. The win marked the first time the Flames had lost a conference match in 146-straight attempts and UIC’s first loss to a conference opponent since the 1996 season. The following year, Detroit was 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the HL, but the Titans would go on to officially knock UIC off the championship pedestal preventing the Flames from winning their 18th-straight conference championship by eliminating the top seed, 4-1, in the HL quarterfinals.
Necajevs began coaching tennis with the Titans during 2010-11 serving as a graduate assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams before being promoted to the interim head coach position on March 24, 2011.
Prior to that, Necajevs was a two-year letter winner on the UDM men’s team. He ended his Titan career in 2009-10 as just the third tennis player in Horizon League history to win back-to-back Player of the Year awards after going 30-4 on the year and a perfect 7-0 in the conference. He dominated conference play with six of his seven wins coming in straight-set sweeps. In his Motor City career, he was 55-8 in singles, all from the top position, with a 14-0 record in conference meets.
He was named the team MVP both years and received the 2009 Titan Newcomer award at the annual UDM President’s Athletic and Academic Honors Luncheon. Off the court, he was a member of Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC), and earned academic honors by being named to the UDM Athletic Director’s Honor Roll twice and also to the Horizon League’s Academic Honor Roll.
Necajevs graduated from the University in May, 2010, with Bachelor’s Degree in Business and is a 2013 graduate of UDM’s MBA program
